URB Scribbles

Waiting, I never had realized could be interesting in its own strange ways. It was towards the onset of this year, on a breezy February evening that the jubilation of lingering to a particular space came to pass on me. I have forever loved winters but there can be no denying that this one month of recess between the battering cold and the simmering heat is worth living for in Delhi. On this fine evening, sitting on a barely left out, pigeon-pooped-corner of a bench in Connaught Place, Delhi, I realized the restlessness of the generation that we are. The inadvertent and unconscious wending of mortals manifested in all ways a pitiful spectacle of cavorting and capering all around. Sitting beside a stranger boy almost of my age but with a comparatively appealing bearing I was attempting to escape the judgmental gaze of the myriad couples scattered all around like bits of a kaleidoscope. Two boys of same age sitting together on this winsome evening, best suited fo...

Food, I have always believed is a window to look at the way of life, culture, and being of a particular people. Wandering across Delhi for the past few months while gourmandizing through assorted recipes I have perhaps realized it the most. My first encounter with Afghan food occurred roughly two winters back when my classmate from Afghanistan, Rustam considered it to be the opportune time. What I mean by Afghan food hear is more or less authentic Afghan food, unlike the range of ‘Afghani Chicken’, ‘Afghani Pulao’ et al. served across eateries in India. My rendezvous with Afghan food has been so far so good and I have been a frequent face at the Kabul-Delhi restaurant in New Delhi. Tucked quietly in the allure and razzmatazz of charismatic Lajpat Nagar, the eatery dutifully serves as a modest destination to engage with Afghan delicacies. Crowded mostly by the Afghan folks the place however hosts a considerable number of foodaholic Indians every day. Operating initiall...

Image: News Republica The United States (US) Pacific Command reported on March 22, 2017 about a failed North Korean missile launch the very day. The launch came merely four days after North Korea (NK) had tested a rocket engine capable of being used for a long range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The failure has come up as a greater relief to the US given the speculations that NK is working on an ICMB capable of delivering nuclear warheads to US. South Korea’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that “South Korea and the US are aware of the missile launch and to their knowledge NK’s missile was not successfully launched”. Although it is not explicit as of now about the type of the missile or the reasons for failure, the matter however has drawn immediate international engagements. What is crucial at this point is not the failure, if at all, to launch the missile but the clandestine engagement of NK with weapons of mass destruction for quite some time – of whic...

Svetlana Alexievich English Translation: Bela Shayevich Juggernaut Books, New Delhi, 2013; ISBN- 9788193237243 Introduction In this splendid work of oral history the noble laureate, Svetlana Alexievich ties together the lived experiences of what she calls the Homo sovieticus. “Seventy-years in the Marxist-Leninist laboratory”, claims the author, “gave rise to a new man” – the Homo sovieticus. “ Homo sovieticus isn’t just Russian, he’s Belorussian, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Kazakh” (p-23). He is in a way rooted in soviet values, attitudes and behaviours. Second-Hand Time, is thus the story of people coming out of socialism. The book traces the myriad and sundry details of a vanished way of life and rests on the narratives of the “miniature expanse: one person, the individual” (p-24). In this polyphonic, yet systematically tied volume, the author blends literary extravagance with careful and critical observations making it perhaps an archetype of what one gets out of a season...

I have usually been choosy and confined when it comes to eateries. Taking that giant step out of the zone of comfort and deciding on a new place has always been a challenge. After the last review, an old friend notified of this new place that has come up in the very locality of the previous destination, Humayunpur, New Delhi. “The Belly Giggles”, offering Naga, Tibetan and Chinese food is yet another place in New Delhi serving escape from the humdrum of quotidian gastronomy. For a foodie who also is a tea person like me and longs for peace over meals, TBG is the place to be given its extended menu serving few varieties of tea. For eating out is an exercise not merely of eating but also of going and being out the ambience of TBG is something worth talking about. Being born and brought up at a place endowed with utmost greenery and open spaces I have forever had this pull for less claustrophobic zones of existence. TBG, above all provides this at once. Stuffe...

It is on occasions when I see a creation as glorious and extravagant as you that I realize the myth of the creator being just. It is then when I realize the injustice embedded in the very existence of meager mortals like me. For if god was to be just, how does one address this perplexing dichotomy in his own creation? How does one then explain the existence of a creation as sublime as you at one end of the spectrum with something as quotidian as me at the nethermost end? It is on occasions like this that I think of the fine spring afternoon when the creator in the most leisurely hours of the clock must have taken up to create you, culminating in his tour-de-force. I stand baffled at the perfection of each careful stroke with which you were embellished. I remain awestruck at the manifestation of excellence that is you. Despite being battered at length in every mathematics test throughout high school I can still appreciate the geometric comprehension of the creator when I...

Painting: Leonid Afremov. Have you told him about me? About those endless chatters, and those sleepless nights?? For if you haven’t, that’s not you! Have you called him ever at the middle of the night? Because you can’t sleep on a stormy night, without someone to hold you tight? For if you haven’t, that’s not you! Have you shown him your childhood pics Tiny nose and fluffy cheeks, full of glory on your father’s lap?? For if you haven’t, that’s not you!                                                 Uddipta Ranjan                                ...